'Nightclubs' Approved by City Planning Board

The Sarasota City Planning Board Wednesday night unanimously approved two petitions that will allow a pair of new nightclubs. Except the petitioners say that’s the furthest thing from their minds.

City rules say if you sell hard liquor and have entertainment, you are a nightclub. But the operators of the State Street Cookery downtown and Lynch’s Pub & Grub on St. Armands don’t want to run nightclubs, they just want to serve up a shot or two and allow live music.

The two restaurants found themselves tangled up in city regulations. Lynch’s is a quarter-century old, and the State Street Cookery isn’t open yet but both became embroiled in what is, or isn’t a nightclub.

“We’ve been in business since ‘86, and on the circle since ’03 as an Irish pub,” said Christine Lynch. “A lot of our customers ask for scotch with their dinner. We tell them we serve only wine or beer and they ask, ‘What’s wrong with you?’”

Joel Freedman, a consultant who helps applicants through the planning process, joined her at the planning board dais. “It is a dilemma because of the way the code is written,” Freedman said. “She needs a COP-4 license to sell liquor with other menu items, but has no interest in running a nightclub. The designation is antiquated and needs to be changed, and we have to ask for a nightclub variance in order to do that.”

COP-4 is a “consumption on premises” liquor license. It also allows package sales, and Lynch wasn’t interested in that either. “It comes with the COP-4, but we don’t have the space to do that,” she said. Occasionally the pub offers live entertainment, as the State Street Cookery plans to do. The combination of shots and tunes puts an establishment into the nightclub-zoning category.

“The zoning code does not adequately describe what is being proposed,” said Senior City Planner Courtney Mendez of the Pub & Grub. “It operates as a restaurant all the time. It just wants a couple of bottles behind the counter.”

The Cookery was a slightly different case. It’s a new restaurant planned to open downtown across the sidewalk from the State Street parking lot. Operator Christian Hershman didn’t bring along a consultant, but sang the same song. “Our main objective is to be an eatery that serves alcohol. We don’t want to be a nightclub, although we reserve that right.”

The building’s neighbor sent a lawyer to make some suggestions the planning board accepted. Hershman suggested the music should end at 10:30pm. Lawyer Steve Reese Jr. said he saw no reason to shut down the music at all. “We don’t see a reason to limit it to 10:30pm,” he said. “But they should agree that live music isn’t appropriate during business hours.”

Hershman agreed, and the planning board approved it unanimously. However Planning Board Member Mort Siegel added a warning. He cited Clematis Street in West Palm Beach, and Rush Street in Chicago as concentrations of alcohol-fueled entertainment zones that those two cities eventually had to restrain.

“It’s very important for the city to get a handle on the sale of alcohol in the downtown area,” he said. “If you don’t, you will create a total entertainment zone in the downtown Main Street area. That’s great for young people, but what will it do to Main Street overall?”